Snow
by Hvalross05
Summary: She's always been curious about it. Was his gesture a caring action or was he just goofing around? Judar x Kenmei (OC), one shot snippet of their relationship.


"It's so hot out here! Can't we move to a different area? Or inside, maybe?"

Judar blinked at the sudden outburst of irritation from the girl beside him and he turned his head to look at her. Kenmei's irritated gaze met his as she fanned herself with her hands, causing a barely visible, weak breeze to run across her face and move the loose strands of hair. Her mass amounts of black hair were pulled up loosely into a high bun on the top of her head, relieving the back of her neck and shoulders from being suffocated by the extreme heat of the day. She had even neglected to undo the braid in her impatient attempt to cool herself and it stuck out like an odd lump among the puffy blob on her head. Her cheeks were pink from the heat and her skin seemed to shine, but that was obviously from the sweat. The freckles that covered her face seemed to pop, which was a normal occurrence when she got too hot or spent too much time out in the sun.

"If you're hot then you can go back inside, I don't care." He turned his head back away from her to look down into the palace courtyard. The two were perched in his usual hiding spot up on the roof, hidden perfectly from wondering eyes of servants or pestering caretakers.

Judar seemed perfectly at peace with the heat, the light amount of shade provided from the next level of the building was enough to keep him cool. Kenmei couldn't believe that he was okay with this overbearing heat, especially dressed in his puffy black pants and his large braid pulled over his shoulder, resting on his chest and lap to allow him to lean back against the wall comfortably. Kenmei had already removed her two over layers of her top, leaving herself in just the small tank top she kept as the under layer. She had her body pushed up against the wall, her legs pulled up so that she was completely under the shade, except for the very tip of her shoes. And still, she felt like she was about to die.

Even still, she couldn't seem to find it in herself to leave him up here alone. Sure, she knew he wouldn't mind one way or another, but leaving him always made her feel bad in some way. But more than that, she craved his company and would rather suffer through heat to be able to sit with him for a while before he was dragged off somewhere again.

The night before, he had just arrived back from a week long trip to another Kou station where Lord Kouen was stationed, though he never told Kenmei why he had gone. He had greeted her that morning in a different way, though it was a way that Kenmei preferred to his usual pranks or scares to get her attention. Instead, Kenmei had woken that early morning to find him sprawled out over her bed like he owned the place, with herself squished to the very edge. She had been so shocked to see him that she actually jumped and had fallen out of her bed. Thankfully, the boy had not woken by the sudden movement, so he didn't know about her embarrassing reaction. She didn't plan on telling him, either, knowing the teasing she would receive if she did.

After he awoke, they continued to spend the day together. Or rather, Kenmei followed him where ever he allowed her to. He didn't seem to mind that she was on his heels every second and seemed to be in a great mood, which made Kenmei very happy. Even now as they both baked in the sun, he was calm and relaxed, hardly picking on her at all or acting like the brat he did when he was irritated. She loved that he was relaxed, and she didn't want to miss a second of it just because it was hot that day.

She shook her head, causing the puff on her head to bounce about. "No, I don't want to leave you up here. It's just so hot!"

"You're a Magician, make a breeze, then." he slumped down a bit more against the wall, giving a yawn. He was obviously bored with the choice of conversation and her company at the moment.

Kenmei sighed, scratching her cheek. "I kind of left my staff in my room.." Her voice started out quiet and was even more quiet by the time she finished speaking, cheeks turning more red from embarrassment. She knew it wasn't a good thing that she left her wand, but she hadn't thought she'd need it at the time. He always got annoyed with her when she left it, because she'd always end up needing it later and then have to run to her room to get it.

Sure enough, he looked at her with an annoyed glance. But instead of being about the wand, he leaned a little closer towards her. "What?"

Kenmei timidly smoothed out the fabric on her knees as she repeated herself. "I said I.. left my staff in my room.."

He gave an annoyed grunt and sat back up. "Of course you did. I didn't even notice." He put his arms behind his head. "Oh well, then."

Kenmei gave him a look, knowing he always had his wand on him and he could easily create a nice breeze for them both, but she knew it wouldn't if he himself didn't need it. She sighed, deciding not to let that get to her and she instead fixed the way she was sitting, crossing her legs in front of her. Her knees were now burning in the sun, but she didn't mind it for the time.

"You know what I bet would feel really nice?" She pulled her top down a bit so that it covered a bit more of her stomach, since it had curled up while she had her knees pulled up. Judar looked down at her again, curious as to her movements and question. "What?"

"Snow. I bet it would be great. I've never seen it before myself, but from what I've read it seems nice. Especially in comparison to this heat." She almost had a dreamy look on her face as she thought about it, imagining the descriptions she had read.

Judar gave an amused, light snort and put his arms back down, pushing himself to sit back up right all the way. "I wouldn't know. The only place that I know has snow is way up north. You could always go there to find out, no one's stopping you."

She shook her head. "I can't just go up to some random place I've only read a little about. That's dumb and reckless." She scooted a bit closer to him, taking his arm and hugging it gently. "Unless, you'd like to go with me, of course."

Judar allowed her to hug and lean on him, knowing it wouldn't last long because she'd get too hot and complain in no time. His hand rested on her leg and he gave a snicker. "And go freeze my ass off? I don't think so."

Kenmei gave a sigh, though wasn't really hurt by his decline, since she had been teasing in the first place. "Well darn. I'll have to find a way to do it with Magic, then."

He shook his head. "Good luck with that. That's a lot of commands, I don't think your stupid brain can figure it out."

The girl glared at him from her spot leaning on his shoulder, tightening her grip on his arm gently. "Then why don't you do it?"

"I'm not going to waste my energy to try to make stupid snow." He looked up as he heard a loud crash of thunder. Above them, dark and angry looking clouds had started to roll over the palace, blocking the suns rays. Kenmei hadn't noticed the increase in humidity and heat, too distracted by her conversation. She looked up as well to view the clouds, which were coming in quickly.

"Oh, I guess that's why it's so extra hot today. It should cool off now." She lied her cheek back onto his shoulder, hiding half of her face in the soft white fabric. She could already feel the cool wind of the storm reaching them, even though it was blocked by the large building they were leaning against.

Judar huffed. "Well there goes that." He started to stand, making Kenmei have to sit up and release her hold on him. "Where are you going?"

"I don't want to be out in the rain." He grabbed her hand before she completely released him and pulled her up to stand easily. Kenmei grabbed onto him to catch her balance, which he didn't mind for the moment. "Don't forget your stuff."

Kenmei released him and walked over to her clothing that was folded neatly off to the side. She started to put the clothing back on, but heard Judar speak. She didn't pick up on what she said, so she turned, confused. "What?"

Judar snickered. "I said, there's no point in putting your clothes back on." Kenmei's face turned red and she hit him with the wadded up sash. "Judar!"

He laughed, giving a smirk."Geez, what are you thinking?! I was just saying that you should because you're just going to go bathe anyway, since you got so sweaty." He patted the fluffy ball of hair on her head. Kenmei still glared at him with a red face, holding the clothing tightly over her chest, as if trying to hide herself. "You're such a liar. But you're right. And you can't go!"

Judar shook his head as he grabbed her and picked her up. "Who ever said I wanted to? Geez, you're such a pervert." He hopped off the roof and landed gently on the ground. Kenmei wiggled herself out of his arms and stood up on her own, giving him a look. "I am not! You're just turning it around on me."

She turned and started towards the public baths that she had to use, since she was not of high enough status to have her own private one. She heard the pat pat of his bare feet and looked behind her, greeted with him following, arms behind his head.

Kenmei turned her head back around. "I said you couldn't go."

"I can go where I want to, stupid girl."

Kenmei gripped her clothing tighter over her chest and she glared at the ground, face dark. She knew he was teasing her on purpose just to get this kind of reaction out of her, as he always found it funny when she got embarrassed. And she fell for it every time.

As they walked in silence under the protection of the hall, it started to pour down rain. It hadn't even started with a light sprinkle, it just suddenly started to pour. Kenmei watched it as she walked, listening to the light pat pat of Judars feet to reassure her that he hadn't walked off and away. His presence was comforting to her, even if he was silent.

Soon enough, she reached the end of the hall that led out to the public baths for the women of the palace. There was a large section of uncovered ground before she could reach the building, so she knew she'd end up getting wet. She turned to look back at Judar, but found that he had gone.

She frowned, looking around her to see if she could find him, but he was no where to be seen. She sighed, feeling a bit let down. She knew he would have left when she went into the building anyway, but she always felt bad when he left without saying anything. She continued to walk out into the rain once she realized he wasn't playing a trick.

The rain was actually quite warm when it hit her skin, but along with the large breeze, it chilled her. By the time she reached the building, she was completely soaked. She rushed into the dry comfort so quickly that she didn't notice the bare feet hanging over the edge of the roof of the building.

Kenmei headed into the first open stall to the left, closing the curtain across the opening for privacy. She couldn't hear anyone else in there at the time, but she didn't mind either way. The water in her stall was bubbling with the welcoming heat, as they had servants working at all times to keep the baths running.

The stall was small, only enough room for the maximum two person tub with about a foot of room on all sides of it. There were two hooks on the left side, one for clothing and the other holding a cloth used to dry off with. There was also a small shelf under both hooks for any clothing that couldn't be hung up. And, to allow more light into the room, there was a very small window near the ceiling, just high enough so no one could peek in. Rain occasionally fell into the room from it, but Kenmei didn't mind it for the time being.

She began to remove her clothing, starting with her shoes. She continued to glance up at the window as she stripped, feeling a bit exposed because of it. She would feel better if her lover was just a normal person, but she knew that Judar could easily peek into the window. He had never done it before, but he had thrown things in through the windows while she was bathing to disturb her. He had even once thrown a very large, flying bug into the room, which caused Kenmei to come running and screaming out of the building in just the drying cloth. The teasing she received for that was unmerciful.

By the time she was stripped and lowered herself into the tub, there was only silence around her. The rain did continue to pour hard outside, the thunder causing a bit of anxiety to grow in her stomach. She likes calm storms, but storms with large amounts of rain, thunder and lightening always made her nervous. She had no real reason to be nervous, as they were perfectly safe in the palace, but no thoughts seemed to help her calm. So, she distracted herself by cleaning her body instead.

Through the minutes she spent in the tub, she started to realize that it felt colder outside of the warm water. It was odd to her, as it had just been very hot and humid. She glanced up at the small window, unable to see very much rain anymore, but she could hear it. In fact, what she could see falling outside of the window didn't look like rain at all.

As she pulled her now wet, but clean hair up into a bun to keep it out of the water, she saw a white flake of something fall into the room from the small window. It slowly floated down and fell into the water, vanishing instantly. Confused and curious, she stood and got out of the tub, quickly using the cloth to dry herself. It was like ice outside of the warm water and she began to shiver. "What the hell is going on.."

She quickly dressed herself in her still wet clothing, taking the cloth with her outside of her stall as she continued to dry her hair. It seemed a bit darker in the area, but it was still chilly. She tossed the cloth in a bin for them and headed to the door, sliding it open.

Kenmei was not met with the rain she thought that she would see. Instead, she was met with white. It covered the ground around the front of the building and fell from the sky. But, it wasn't all around. It was only around the front of the building, while further past was nothing but the pouring rain.

Timidly, she stepped out into the crunchy white stuff. It fell from the sky and she watched it land onto her clothing only to stick. She held out her hands and it slowly began to fill up her cupped palms. She was very confused, not exactly sure she understood how this could be here.

"It's not like it's going to kill you, you're all scared of it."

Kenmei jumped at the voice and quickly turned, looking up at the roof of the building. Judar sat there at the edge, soaked to the bone from the rain and covered with the white specks. His hair stuck to his face as he gave a grin, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, wand in hand. "Wake up, stupid girl."

Kenmei blinked as she looked up at him, a bit worried she would get the specks in her eyes. "W-what is this?" She looked down at her feet, squatting down and putting her hand down into the plush white. "Is this snow?"

Judar shook his head. "No, it's fire. What do you think."

"How did you make it?" She looked back up at him, not even put off by his sarcasm. Judar gave a sly smirk, twisting and moving his wand between his fingers. "I'm a genius."

Kenmei shook her head and stood, holding the soft ice in her hands. "Of course you are." She smiled as she looked at it closely, though froze her skin and made her begin to shiver. "That's so cool."

Judar huffed, annoyed that she wasn't praising him. "Hey, you better be happy I decided to try to see if I could do it." Kenmei dropped the snow and looked back up, still smiling. "Oh? And here I thought you had done it out of the kindness of your heart."

Judar scoffed and scooted closer to the edge, getting ready to hop off. "Yeah right!" He pushed himself off the roof and landed next to her, though he almost instantly hopped back up into the air, giving a shocked yelp. "That's cold!"

The instant he hopped back into the air, his concentration must have dropped, because all the soft ice around them on the ground and falling from the sky melted back into the warm rain and began to pound onto them both once again. Kenmei laughed as Judar floated in the air with his legs crossed, feet hidden in the warmth of his pants. His face had a pink hue to it as he glared at the girl, crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you laughing at?!"

Kenmei shook her head as she walked closer to him, putting her hand on his knee gently. "Nothing, that was just cute."

Judar turned away from her, his braid slapping her lightly in the side in his quick movement. "Oh shut up."

Kenmei's smile grew and she grabbed onto the white fabric around his shoulders gently. "Come on, stand up." She tugged lightly on it a few times and he glanced back at her before giving a huff and landing gently on the ground, back still to her.

She let her hands rest gently on his back. "Don't be embarrassed-" "I'm not embarrassed!" He cut her off, looked back at her over his shoulder with a glare. Still, he had a light pink shade on his face, and Kenmei couldn't take him seriously. She kept her smile and nodded. "Sure, okay. Anyway, that was really amazing. Thank you for showing me."

Judar seemed to calm a bit and he turned back around. "I didn't show it to you, you came out while I was still practicing it." He scratched his cheek, seeming to refuse to look down at her, like he was embarrassed over how he had acted. "Screw that stuff, though, it's cold."

Kenmei took his hand gently. "Well yeah, it's ice. But that's okay. Just don't do it again and you wont have to deal with it." He blinked, looking down at her. "You liked it, didn't you?"

She nodded, smile growing. "It was neat. I loved it." Judar nodded, avoiding her gaze again. "Right."

There was silence for a moment, only the sound of the rain falling around them. It seemed to grow harder and a loud clap of thunder made Judar seem to be able to speak again. "Anyway, I'm leaving." He turned and started to walk off, putting his wand away in its hiding spot.

Kenmei quickly followed after him, keeping hold of his hand gently. "Where to?"

Judar shrugged. "My place, I guess. Gotta dry off."

Kenmei nodded. "I guess I'll head to mine, then." She felt him return the grip on her hand and she looked up, a bit confused. "What?"

"Nah, come on." He gave a sly smirk down towards her. "Besides, if you go, who will be around to warm me up?"


End file.
